The gaming specialist saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITA) hit €2.079 million, an improvement of €1,000 over the first quarter of 2008, while earnings before interest and tax came in at €565 from a loss of €377 for the first three months last year.

The company also moved into the black with consolidated earnings reaching €90,000 from last year’s deficit of €520,000 while reporting cash and equivalents of €12.851 million, which was slightly down on the €12.861 it held at the end of 2008.

Jaxx stated that revenues from sportsbetting rose over 28 percent to €21.359 million from €15.189 million for the first quarter of 2008 while those from bets placed on horseracing dropped 40 percent to €4.202 million from €7.106 million. In addition, lottery revenues decreased 37 percent year-on-year to €3.768 million from €5.981 million.

“Following a good start to the 2009 financial year with healthy results for the quarter, the performance is expected to fall back initially in the second quarter due to seasonal factors,” read a statement from Jaxx.

“The end of the football season in Europe traditionally brings a downturn in bookmaking margins because customers increasingly place bets on the favourites to win. From the end of May, the start of the summer break will, moreover, limit the range of bets on offer. The possibility cannot, therefore, be excluded that the second quarter of 2009 could produce a negative result.”

Jaxx recently wrote down €15 million in investments in its German operations and closed its Jaxx Gmbh Hamburg subsidiary as a result of new legislation that came into effect in January prohibiting online lottery agency operations in its home nation.

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The Austrian firm reported that this figure represented a 1.1 percent increase on the final quarter of 2008’s €101 million while the first three months of this year saw gross gaming revenues reach €117.6 million, which was a 12.5 percent year-on-year upsurge.

Turnover from sportsbetting rose by 9.2 percent year-on-year to €762.7 million with a margin of 8.2 percent leading to a three percent increase year-on-year in gross revenues from sportsbetting to €62.4 million. Poker turnover rose 37 percent year-on-year to €31.1 million buoyed by the satisfactory development of the firm’s Italian poker business alongside the successful migration of the various poker labels to Bwin Poker and lucrative cross-selling.

Bwin stated that gross revenues from its casino and games business amounted to €18 million and €6.1 million, which was an increase year-on-year of 9.5 percent and 26.7 percent respectively. The growth of its games business was attributed largely to the expansion of its product portfolio along with the launch of its Italian skill games site at Bwin.it.

The first quarter of this year also saw the number of active customers rise 25.6 percent to 1.16 million while Bwin attracted 295,000 new players, a 16.1 percent increase year-on-year.

Costs per new active customer fell 17.2 percent compared to the first three months of 2008 to €123.40 while gross gaming revenues per active customer dropped 10.4 percent to €101.30 from €113.00.

All of this saw Bwin report a 72.9 percent increase year-on-year in earnings after tax of €18.9 million alongside a net cash position of €70.8 million, which is considerably higher than the €53.2 million it recorded for the first quarter of 2008.

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The figure was a 14 percent rise on the firm’s results for full-year 2008 and was helped by 25 percent growth year-on-year in income from sportsbetting activities.

Unibet revealed that its income from sportsbetting from the first three months of 2009 hit £15.97 million, which was up from last year’s £11.88 million, while its gross winnings revenue amounted to £36.1 million, a 13 percent rise on 2009’s £31.3 million.

Profits before tax for the first quarter of 2009 amounted to £10.7 million, which was up from £2.9 million in 2008, while those from operations for the first quarter grew by £600,000 year-on-year to £10.9 million.

Unibet also had 26,816 more active customers than a year ago to bring its total to 314,977 while it reported that it had operating cash flow before any movements in working capital of £13.5 million, a rise of £300,000 from twelve months ago.

“Our strong business model and the well-balanced product portfolio have resulted in another strong quarter in terms of gross winnings and operating cash flow,” said Petter Nylander, Chief Executive Officer for Unibet.

“During the quarter, the number of active customers increased by almost eight percent and we have continued our successful geographic expansion. The experience and structure capital that we have gained in our own sportsbook gives us a competitive advantage in many areas and are fundamental in the strength of our brand and our customers’ user experience.”

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The Californian firm revealed that the increase was due primarily to higher revenues from its ClubWPT.com domain alongside increased World Poker Tour television series hosting fees.

WPTE stated that ClubWPT.com began operations in the first quarter of 2008 and saw a ‘significant’ growth in revenues beginning in the fourth quarter of 2008 due to the airing of ten one-hour episodes on Fox Sports. It revealed that three additional one-hour episodes aired over the first quarter of this year with television series hosting fees increasing due to the fact that the 13 episodes of Season Seven aired in 2009 compared to one episode of Season Six in 2008.

The cost of revenues decreased year-on-year from $2.7 million to $2.1 million due to lower World Poker Tour television series Season Seven production costs. This saw the firm’s gross profit margin for the television series increase to 53 percent from 34 percent last year.

WPTE stated that selling, general and administrative expenses decreased to $3.1 million in the first quarter of 2009 compared to $4.9 million for the first three months of last year while it partially offset lower personnel-related costs and litigation expenses with a higher bad debt provision.

The firm discontinued its operations in China in March because ‘the cash needs to support the growth in this business were greater than the company was willing to expend’. World Poker Tour China lost $984,000 in the first quarter of 2009 including a $211,000 shutdown provision, which compared to a $528,000 loss for the first three months of 2008.

WPTE announced that income from continuing operations over the first quarter were $479,000 excluding a non-cash impairment charge relating to its investment in Cecure Gaming, which compared to a $2.3 million loss for the first three months of 2008.

“In the first quarter of 2009, we made significant progress in our turnaround efforts to position the company for future profitability” said Steve Lipscomb, President and Chief Executive Officer for WPTE.

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Rank is the firm behind online bookmaker BlueSq.com and virtual casino GrosvenorCasinos.com and revealed that it brought forward the publication of its interim results due to the ‘adverse changes to the taxation of bingo and poker’ announced by the UK Government earlier this week in its annual Budget.

The Maidenhead-based firm stated that the decrease in revenues from its online division was principally due to a significantly lower win margin in its sportsbook operation. Sportsbook revenues dropped 52 percent due to an ‘abnormally low’ win margin on football bets.

However, continued growth from Rank’s MeccaBingo.com site resulted in a one percent increase in online gaming revenues while the firm as a whole saw revenues climb one percent year-on-year.

“In spite of the economic uncertainty, Rank has performed in line with management expectations during the first 16 weeks of the year,” read a statement from Rank.

“However, the tax changes announced in the Government’s Budget statement will have an adverse effect on the Group’s profits in 2009.

“We will continue to manage our businesses with a focus on offering value and enjoyment for our customers while maintaining a measured and disciplined approach to capital investment and cost control.”

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